The UNSC Infinity has hovered in Earth’s orbit for 6 months after the events of the Didact’s attack, where he used a device known as the Composer and fired it over the earth, striking it with a powerful beam. Though the Master Chief was able to stop the entire earth from being attack, he was too late for the earth city of New Phoenix, which is still under lock-down and deemed unlivable after every organic being, every human, was reduced into nothing but ash. According to the Master Chief Spartan 117, the Composer had the ability to convert humans into the digital realm, turning them into the Promethean servant class of machines he and the Infinity faced on Requiem.

Though the Didact is believed to be killed, There is the matter of a Sangheili warrior who is now leading the fraction of the Storm Covenant, the ones still at war with the humans. Jul ‘Mdama, who proclaimed himself as the Didact’s hand, has most of Requiem under his control. The Infinity has orders to return to Requiem, clear the Shield World of Jul and his fraction, and claim the planet for humanity to study. The Spartan IVs on the Infinity were all prepared for this operation...and none were more Prepared than that of Fireteam Crimson.

--------------

Raimundo stood in the center of his quarters, having the area to himself, he began his morning exercise. He shadow-boxes a bit before switching to mixed martial arts, timed punches and kicks, flips and jumps. He then draws a bokken and performs several sword stances and strikes.

Raimundo learned how to fight at a very young age. He loved fighting and learned from a experienced mercenary after his home planet was glassed and he was left alone. When he got older, his skills grew to extraordinary levels, he even mastered a state in which he would be focused, knowing where to attack and how, calling it his Chaos Breaker, though Dylan sometimes called it his beast mode, despite Rai arguing that its not the same.

When he was done, his focus turns to the small photograph of his adopted daughter Estella, which was handing on the room’s monitor.

“What do you think? Pretty good huh?” Rai asked his daughter in the photo, he missed her, but knew she was safe. He plucks the picture and smiles, “Don’t worry kid, I’ll be careful this time, those covies won’t lay a scratch on me” he said, making a promise. Rai holds it closer, “I’ll come back soon, stay safe” he adds before pockets the pic and continues.

------------

Anastasia took aim as she fired at the targets in the shooting range. She woke up early to have the area to herself, and since Infinity is preparing for their op, the war game training rooms have been disabled, war games postponed until the end of the mission.

Anastasia never did the same thing every morning. Sometimes she would go on a long run, calling out the ODST marching cadence, sometimes she would be at the Gymnasium, exercising, lifting weights and running, and Sometimes she deiced on none of those and just took the time to read.

Today Ana decided on target practice at the ship’s firing range, shooting at still images of different covenant species, aiming right for the kill shots. Her arming was above average, almost sniper-level, but even she admitted she’s not the best sniper, though her teammates say that she’s a pretty damn good one.

Once all targets were hit, the machines brought the sheets closer. All shots close together and all at either the head or the chest, but she didn’t look satisfied. Stills were one thing, a moving target, especially those as nimble as Elites and Jackals, were something else. “Run it again, Roland” she called out,

“Alright. setting up new targets” Roland said. New target sheets rolled out and presented themselves.

--------------

Evelyn was up sometime after Anastasia. She was already making her bed and did Ana’s as well. Once that was done, she washed up in the showers, then got herself dress, wearing the under suit all Spartan IVs wear when not in armor, wearing this at all times made the IVs ready to suit up at a moments notice. After getting dressed, she tires her hair in a short ponytail and stood in attention. She turns to the mirror in the room and gives a light sigh.

“Alright Evelyn, today is the day. The mission to Requiem...your first mission as a Spartan.” She said to herself, trying to prepare. “You can do this, Evelyn. You’re not some navy brat, you are not defined by your family, you are a soldier now, a Spartan. You will not show panic, you will not show fear, you will be the best soldier...the best Spartan you can be...and you are not alone, you have a team that respects you, that cares for you. They will have your back, and you will have theirs.”

After another moment to let the thoughts sink in, she stands in attention again before she leaves the room, her confidence now risen.

--------------

Dylan was in engineering, by himself. He was taking care of his prosthetic legs, giving them a final tune-up before they put him in armor. So far, everything was smooth: he walked, ran, sprinted and jumped.

“Ok, the legs are good...now for one more detail” he said to himself. Sitting back down, he touches the knee and slides open a compartment. When Dylan got his prosthetics, he sometimes tinkered with them, making them react like real feet and legs, or exchanging components to make him move faster or take harder impacts...and then there were hidden compartments, things he added to help on the battle field, things like spare ammo clips, emergency gear, anything one could think of.

Taking shotgun shells he took from the armory, he loads 12 shells into his right knee, once all were in, he closes the compartment. He got back to his feet then pulled his dog tags from his under-suit, he focused on the dragon charm “Wish me luck bro...I think we’re gonna need it” he holds it close before putting it back.

------------------

Evelyn stood at the landing bay, looking at all the crew letting pelicans and supply ships enter, bringing in goods, weapons gear, and even more Spartan IVs, those that were either veterans or newly fresh from training on earth. She was soon joined by the rest of Crimson.

“Well, today is the day team” Dylan said, “The day we say goodbye Earth, hello Requiem.”

“Hard to believe it’s been two months since we became a team” Evelyn added.

“Yeah well, don’t get your hopes up, this isn’t some cake walk. We’ll be exploring a forerunner built planet, and Infinity only scratched the surface when they found the Didact” Anastasia said.

“Tell me about it” Rai said, then turned towards a Console, “Hey Roland, how soon are we to leaving?”

The ship’s AI. Roland, appeared in his WWII fighter pilot avatar, “We’re prepped and ready, just waiting on the last pelican” he said, then turns around, “Speak of the devil.”

Crimson turns and sees a lone pelican enter the bay and land. The rear opens and out comes 5 Spartan IVs, four men, one woman, all in their under-suits.

“Who is that?” Evelyn asked

“If the profile is correct, they are Fireteam Majestic” Roland said. He then accesses Evelyn’s Data Pad and on the screen showed all their names and BIOS.

“Are they good?” Anastasia asked.

“Well, their record is promising” the AI replied.

“They get 5 Spartans?” Evelyn asked “That seems unusual?”

"Not really, most Squads are 5 or more. You know, now that I think about it..." Rai drew, "I think we're the only fire team who only has 4 Spartans"

"No...that can be, There are other Fireteams with just 4" Dil began, "What about Fireteam Lantern?"

"They have 7" Evelyn said.

"Oh yeah...wait, Fire Team Turtle, they have 4" Dil said

"Sorry, they recently added a 5th" Evelyn said, "Strange...how come we don't get a 5th?" she asked

“We don’t need a 5th Spartan" Ana said, "we've shown that we can beat the other teams by ourselves” Ana said. They turned and saw the 5 stand, “Besides, they don’t look that impressive” Ana said as she crossed her arm

“Well, their files hold well...each of them having high records and skills” Evelyn said, sounding impressed.

The outburst interrupted Rai, they turned and saw Majestic standing in attention, saluting, with Commander Palmer in front of them. From their position, they saw one of them chuckle.

"Did we just miss something?" Evelyn asked

Roland reappeared and chuckled "you sure did, Don't worry, I recorded the whole thing" He faded and a holo-image of Majestic appeared.

“Hey. Take a look” the one Identified as DeMarco said, He and another were eying Palmer as she approached.

“Oh my...” said the one the file named Anthony Madsen, The four could tell that the two had that look guys get when seeing pretty girls.

“Ah-ah. I saw her first” DeMarco said when he saw Madsen about to approach. He then took a step forward and cleared his throat before greeting Palmer, “Hi there.”

“Well, hello Spartan....” Commander Palmer said with a smile, trying to get his name.

“Paul DeMarco” he said, “I lead Fireteam Majestic” he added with a tone of confidence in his voice.

"Oh lord" Ana voiced in annoyance, she knew where this was going, "He's actually hitting on her?" she asked rhetorically.

“Wow...a whole fireteam, huh” She said, sounding impressed, this made Crimson smirk and hold back a laugh as DeMarco continued.

“Uh...I didn’t catch your name...” he said with a flirting tone.

“Sarah Palmer” she said, then added in a serious tone, “Commander Sarah Palmer” Crimson saw DeMarco react to her statement, his eyes widening as she finished with “I lead all the Fireteams aboard Infinity.”

DeMarco stood straighter as he went back in position, “FIRETEAM MAJESTIC, COMMANDER ON DECK!” They all saluted.

Dil, Rai and Eva couldn’t hold their amusement as they laughed, Ana smirked lightly as she shook her head at that. “Oh God, di-did you see his face?!” Rai gasped.

"Oh man, glad you recorded that, Roland" Dil said between laughs

“Heh, you’d think he’d know better” Eva added.

“Yeah, well it serves him right” Ana said, then added “sexist pig” in a bitter tone.

“Come on, lets get going” Dil said, trying to ease the tension. The four started moving out of the bay as the Ship began its jump.

------------

Infinity began its trip into Slip-Space. Since the ships’ engines were Forerunner, and Forerunner tech is highly advanced, the journey would take half the time than the most human-advanced ship could make.

As the ship Reached to what they believe to be that half-way mark. All Spartans were ordered to the S deck to armor up. Crimson stood in line as they first got into the Mesh under-armor: a fabric that was between the under-suit and the armor components of the new Mjolnir. The under armor went on like a Jumpsuit only more technical, it was tighten to fill up the contours of the human body and was heavily padded in critical spots, yet light enough for free movement. Both Rai and Ava’s under armor were Steel gray with Rai’s having red accents and Ana having Blue, Eva’s under armor was white with yellow assents while Dil’s was blue with red.

They arrived at the heart of the S-deck, where the harness and apparatus were, where technicians stood as they armored up Spartans before them. As they looked around, the team spots Fireteam Majestic on a walkway right across from them, all were in navy blue under-armor.

“That’s weird, I’ve never seen that color palate with the other ones when I ordered armor” Rai said.

"Yeah, same here" Dil added.

“5 Spartans and now a color we don’t get?” Eva asked, "This team keeps getting more interesting."

When it was finally their turn, they heard a voice. “Ladies...and other Spartans. Listen up!” They turned and saw Their CO, Sarah Palmer, on the large view screen, she was in her Full armor, save for the helmet, her armor permutation was that belonging to the scout set. “Your new work place is a planet first discovered by humanity six months ago, called Requiem” She continued. “Some of the old hands here know what you’re in for. The rest of you...you’re due an education” The Technicians signaled Crimson that they were read and they walked into their separate apparatus.

Crimson began armoring up. First were the boots, they stepped into the open piece of armor, once they were in, the machinery closed around the feet, forming the armored boots, then moves up to the legs. The Spartans then slipped their hands through the forearm armor, grasping onto the handles. Drills worked a screw on the wrist, closing it around their arms. Once they were all hooked up, the apparatus maneuvers them around, preparing the torso armor, it comes in halves, front and back, both are connected and are held tight. Once those were on, the apparatus moves them upright, robotic arms move to their shoulders and attach the armored pauldrons, then came the final touch: the helmets, they all hovered above and were slipped on, then locked in. Their point of view shows the Heads up Display of the armor, now that everything was on, they were free to walk out.

“The Eggheads upstairs want to set up research bases” Commander Palmer addressed during their armoring up, “But before they can do that, we need to fend off some Covenant squatters.”

She turns to them all, making sure they were looking at her, “The Covies...they believe this is the home of one of their gods” she said, referring to the Didact, “well, the way I see it, if those freaks want to meet god, it’s our duty...to help them along!”

The Spartans cried out in “Hell yeahs” and “Hoo-Rahs” at that declaration, Crimson and Majestic included.

-------------------------

Evelyn looked at her refection in a nearby mirror, her armor was white with Yellow accents displayed in various patters. Her helmet was from the Stalker set of armor with a light blue visor. Her torso from the tracker set, pathfinder armor in the Shoulders, a set of inner-plated forearms, and contoured style armor for the legs. She was in awe at the sight “My own armor...I am officially a Spartan” she said with a smile under her helmet.

“You’re far from being a true Spartan hot pocket” Anastasia said walking over to her. Her armor was steel gray with blue accents. Her helmet was part of the Wetworks set with a blue visor. Her torso from the same stalker set as Eva’s helmet, ODST Shoulders, a set of contoured forearms and Legs resembling the armor of the Spartan IIs Mark VI armor.

“I know, but can you blame me? Seeing that armor, and the people under it, in action...I can’t help but feel like one of them now” She admitted. “and your armor is pretty awesome yourself, I didn’t even noticed the ODST style armor they added.”

“It was recent. And I’m glad they engineered it, I was actually missing my old ODST armor” Ana said rubbing at the shoulder pauldron.

“We’ve sure come a long way, huh ladies” Raimundo voiced, his armor color was like Ana’s, save that it was red where she had blue. His helmet was the primary recruit style with a red and black visor. His torso was from the orbital set, the shoulders scout class like Commander Palmer, his forearms, like his helmet was from the Recruit Prime set and a set of RG-63 Counter Prime armor for his legs.

“We sure did” Eva voiced, “We’re gonna show the Covenant what Crimson is made of.”

“That’s the Spirit” Dil called out finally making himself known. His armor stood out most, Blue with Red accents. His helmet had a Scanner attachment with a red and blue shifting visor. His torso was from the rare Commando armor set. Unlike his teammates, his shoulder pauldrons were from two different sets: left side was of the Defender set, right from the Infiltrator set. A set of forearms from the recently developed Ricochet armor set and a the Over-Locking armor cover his robotic legs.

“Jesus, always with the red and blue” Ana groaned.

“What?” Dil asked

“Next to the Hot Pocket in her white armor, you’re basically a moving target” Ana explained.

“Oh and I suppose you and Rai blend so well in your gray armor” Dil commented while gesturing in his helmet. “The color doubles as an intimidation maneuver” He takes his helmet off to reveal his recently added colored contacts, red on the left eye, blue on the right, “I’ve seen a few Elites look surprised with these on. And besides, I don’t think I could wear any other colors.”

“Right” Dil commented as he put his helmet back on. The four got closer and used their neural interface to check their systems. “Now, If everyone remembers the lessons in Armor configurations, you'd know this armor is capable of several features. Aside from the protective energy shield, magnetizing boots and wireless interface that connects us to Infinity’s systems, the armors have several standard issue abilities..."

"Right" Ana said, "the thruster packs built in the armors for EVA and quick maneuvers.”

The backs of the Armor open slightly, revealing the high-powered thrusters.

the lower back of their armor revealed openings, places where the armor abilities drives can connect.

“Check.”

“Connection ports on the Armor’s back for Jetpack configuration” Evelyn rounded off.

Similar openings revealed themselves in the very back of the armor, where a single Jetpack can connect and work with the armor.

“Check.”

“Ok, that takes care of standard issue features” Dil said, “next are our support upgrades and tactical packages, we each have different sets and combinations in our armor’s systems, 5 and 5. They were all integrated when we requested our armor. Lets examine those now.”

The four were silent as they examined their chosen sets, their armor glowed and reacted differently with each examination. After a moment, it all stopped.

“Green light all around” Eva said.

“Same here” Rai voiced.

“Check” Ana said.

“All good. Roland, what’s our ETA?” Dil asked

“We’re exiting slip-space now...” Roland said

Suddenly, there is a muffled sound of an explosion and the ship shook hard, sending all four to the ground. They get up near a console as Roland reappears with a smug smile as he asked “what the hell was that?” Eva asked.

“Infinity just plowed through a Covenant ship” Roland said.

“Whoa...thank god for Infinity’s shields” Dil said

“You best get in your pelican, All Spartan Fireteams are being Giving the green light to deploy” Roland said before fading out.

Without another word, the Four Spartans got to their feet and rushed for their assigned pelican, codename Crimson 1. They each grab their specialty weapons: Dylan with his Rocket Launder and SAW machine gun, Raimundo with an Assault Rifle and Pistols, Evelyn with a Battle Rifle and DMR, and Anastasia with a Sniper Rifle and DMR, the rest of their basic weapons were loaded up as they entered.

“All Spartan Fireteams are prepped and ready for launch” an announcement called out, without another word, their pelican took off and shot out of the hanger and into deep space.

The four looked out as Covenant Seraph Fighters and Space Banshees fought with Broadsword and Longsword fighters, clearing the path for the Pelicans. “Crimson 1, begin your decent, Requiem corridor is clear. Repeat: Requiem corridor is clear.”

“Crimson 1 is on approach” the pilot replied, then turned to the Spartans inside, “Hold on tight, we have a lot of turbulence” he explained as it dodges debris on its way into the entrance to Requiem.

“This is it...Here we go, Crimson!” Rai shouts as the Pelican made its way in with the others.

Maybe we should include the teams together at some point? Even if it's just temporary. By the way, I haven't been reading the fics of it you've posted because I've been busy. I'll get around to fixing the grammar and such this weekend hopefully.

It's good though Rai's part seems to have a few spelling errors other than that also I think the part were Rai is complementing Evelyn and Ana he should say Ladies rather than girls but this is really better than before

Excellent fic Dragon! I think you did a great job with everyone's Spartans. My favorite part is still them bantering in the hangar and then making fun of Majestic. The dialogue there is really natural and shows the team spirit that has finally been built up between Crimson's team members. And like I said before you always have a really good eye for menting and describing details and technical things, particularly when talking about the armor. Still love it, thanks for writing this for us all!